Gumball's New Feelings REMASTERED
by fantom fiction
Summary: Gumball's world is temporarily flipped upside down when he realizes that the feelings he had always known he had for Penny were, for a brief second, shared with Carrie. It only takes a second to make him rethink everything he knows up until this point, however, and he begins to explore these new feelings of his to see where it may take him. (GumballxCarrie) (GumballxPenny kinda)
1. Chapter 1

**Alright, check this out, I took a little stroll through memory lane and read Gumball's New Feelings TO COMPLETION! Not a fun time. Not a bit. 14 year old me knew nothing about writing except how to take bits and pieces from other stories, massacre them, and then slap the lyrics of a song in and put it out like I was doing God's work.**

**I can't let that be what's remembered of me man. So here we are, just for fun, for the sake of shits and giggles, I, 18 year old fantom fiction, will be condemning my younger self by writing something that I'll be happy with in today's times.**

**The title will stay consistent, but all of that b.s that went on in the story? Events and what-not? We're gonna go ahead and fix it.**

**Please enjoy as we take this journey together, some of you remember the series, some of you are even new to the series, but welcome to the director's cut remastered version. Thank you for your time, let's get this underway.**

* * *

The sun setting signaled all of the residents of Elmore to go home to rest after a long day of doing whatever they did during the day. Lowering down beneath the horizon, fading from a fiery orange to a funereal blue, the city was slowly settling down for a nice, comfortable evening. One resident, however, had a long night ahead of him.

Gumball Watterson sat at his desk and stared at the computer monitor. It was neither on, nor was it an actual point of interest for him, it was merely a muse for him to look at in hopes that it would somehow clear his thoughts. It wasn't as if he had any real life problems; being young had it's perks, such as shoulders that weren't large enough yet to carry the weight of the world. Any problem he had nowadays were, on the larger scale of things, relatively small and manageable. That didn't stop it, however, from causing this strange mixture of emotions within him that left his stomach light and heavy at the same time.

He frowned, lightly gripping the bridge of his nose with agitated fingers. It really shouldn't have been this big of a deal, it was just that before today, he thought he didn't have feelings for anyone except who he figured was undoubtedly the love of his life, Penny Fitzgerald, the most beautiful girl in his grade who had him wrapped around her finger and could get anything she wanted from him by merely asking for it. And although those feelings lingered with him still, it was almost painful when he realized that maybe another person caught some of that same attention from him.

Only for a quick moment though, a very brief moment. As brief as it was, however, it still left it's mark on his psyche. That very day, only a handful of hours ago, he had been walking through the halls of Elmore Jr. High accompanied by his best friend and aquatic brother Darwin talking about nonsense. The kind of talk that happened for reasons you couldn't remember. They had been headed to the cafeteria for lunch and almost as soon as the doors had opened and the aromas had hit him had he been stopped in his tracks. Only for a quick moment though. A very brief moment.

Sitting straight ahead of him had been the transparent figure of Carrie, a girl Gumball had been friends with for a while and had never looked at in any other context but that; as just a friend. It was different this time though.

Maybe it was the way the sun had shown through her, making her appear as an apparition with a heavenly glow that could entrance even the man who had seen everything, which Gumball had mistaken for a feeling of love or something along the lines which really could have just been another person's perfect photo opportunity.

Or maybe it was the pleasant smells of cafeteria food which had hung in the air and possibly tricked him into thinking that it felt good because she was there.

Or, the final theory, maybe it was the way she sat alone with her head hanging, a look on her face like existence brought her pain as she ran her fork through food she couldn't eat which screamed, 'someone, come to my rescue!' and Gumball had just been feeling that obligation to be there for her.

Or maybe he was just nuts. That was always a fall back option. Maybe he had become unhinged mentally and everything he thought he wanted no longer seemed appealing.

For the sake of getting these bottled up nerves out, he started slamming his fists on his desk. It was only a second! He'd seen millions of seconds, why had this one second meant so much to him that it was keeping him up at night? Was it a threatening feeling? It _was_ making him rethink a lot he thought he already knew. He thought Penny was the one, and he thought Carrie was just a friend. That second had compromised his thinking processes on both of these people which really felt like steel rain on his paper umbrella.

Thinking about all of this had made his brain sore, it wasn't uncommon for him to get headaches from thinking too much. His little sister Anais loved to remind him of that a lot. He pushed away from his desk and hopped off his chair, heading over to his bunk bed which sat right next to his brother's fish bowl. He gave a quick smile to his pal who had long ago outgrown that little space but still preferred being in it over the bed.

Gumball removed his clothes, making sure to set his sweater on it's hanger so he could hang it back up in his closet. He climbed the ladder slowly up to his bed to try and get some shut-eye. Thank the stars that it was Saturday tomorrow and he could try to find something to take his mind away from these troublesome thoughts.

Laying in his bed did not do the trick as he had hoped, for what followed was a restless night full of waking up hoping that he had slept it off.

Before he knew it, he was awoken for the umpteenth time, this time by the golden glow of the sun shining in through his window, illuminating a small square of light on the floor which seemed to cast away all shadows in the room. Grunting, he pushed himself up to start his day. It already wasn't looking good by how little his night seemed to mean to the universe, because as much as he wanted to stay in the moment of last night and figure out what was going on with him, the world kept trekking on and he was forced to keep up and take each day with either a smile or a frown. He felt the wrinkles form on his forehead as he made his choice. Today would be spent in aggravation and thought. And nothing could change that. Nothing.

Nothing except, maybe, a homemade waffle whose smell had made it's way up and into his room. Maybe he'd lighten up for breakfast, but after that, his grumpy day began.

He made his way slowly downstairs to check out the scene. When he got to the kitchen he saw his mother happily making the waffles he had been able to smell from upstairs. She was humming an impromptu melody that made it hard to want to be a grouch today. The rest of his family had been waiting at the table, talking amongst themselves. His father Richard had been talking about his days as a child, which had no doubt been spurred by one of his siblings. He sat down at the table, taking a sip of orange juice which had preemptively been placed there for him.

"Morning buddy!" Darwin greeted his brother with a positive attitude that he always carried with him. Gumball smiled at his younger sibling.

"What was with all that banging coming from your room last night?" Anais had asked, having lost interest in her father's story. He didn't mind though, he kept on talking like he hadn't even noticed about the time when he had gotten stuck in the school bathroom for a whole weekend and had to survive with what was around him.

"Oh, that?" Gumball said, hoping that by acknowledging what she said he could figure out an answer that could satisfy his prying sister, but he had nothing. "Uh... I saw a bug?" How lame of an excuse was that? He saw a bug? That's what the racket was for? It was all he could scrape together, he didn't want to have to vocalize his problems when he didn't have a clear answer to them and get them involved. His meddling family would definitely make things worse.

"Well next time you see a bug, try to kill it quieter, I was already having trouble sleeping without you trying to break down the walls." She said with a little frown on her face. Thankfully she had seemed to buy it.

"I'll keep that in mind sis." He took another drink of his juice, not really wanting to say more. He turned, instead, to listen to his father's ramblings and laughed with his siblings and mother for the rest of the morning. Beyond that, when they went there separate ways for the day, it was back to his thoughts. This really screwed everything up, he couldn't even enjoy a Saturday, or a Sunday for that matter! The weekend was ruined inadvertently by Carrie.

Sunday night, as he was lying in bed, he decided that when he went to school the next day he would just have to have a little chat with her, spend some time with her at lunch. Maybe nothing was going on and having a little one on one would make him realize he didn't feel anything. Comfortable with that thought, he rolled over to fall asleep before his stupid brain could ruin another night for him.

Too bad it did.

**Alrighty. Chapter 1, already much much better than the original in my own opinion. Although you do have the right to disagree. After all, the original was my ticket to meeting y'all. Maybe tampering with that invades the sanctity of long forgotten memory. Or maybe I don't care. Oh well. Leave your reviews, good or bad or ugly, I'd love to hear what you think of this. It has been a while, so I'll find my groove once again. Till next time all.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here we go with chapter 2. almost thought I was gonna give up already, lol. Nah, I have a few ideas for this I wanna get out. All in due time. Enjoy the chapter.**

The night had not been kind to Gumball. For hours his mind had been racing and when he did manage to fall asleep, he only had confusing dreams which forced him back awake and into the throes of insomnia. Maybe he was being a little dramatic, but even if he was the dark rings under his eyes today told him it was too late to take back the night.

He had snagged a cup of coffee this morning before heading off to school and was now only running off of fumes. His classes had been hard due to his exhausted state, and he had earned himself one after school detention for letting his head hit his desk and causing a disruption all because he just couldn't hold it up.

However, lunch was coming up. With every second that ticked toward it, he was energized by the suspense. The day had ultimately been one long wait for lunch, where he'd go find Carrie and, through conversation, figure out how he felt about her.

If he found that they didn't connect, or that he didn't feel anything in the moment, he'd pass it off as gas and go about his day. He didn't have much of a plan for the alternate outcome, the one where his emotions were confirmed and he'd have to figure out what to do. A shiver went down his spine at the thought of having to deal with emotions of any kind, he barely had a grasp on his own brain, let alone his own body. What he had in his guts should stay in his guts, or be given to Penny. Although right now, as he walked towards the cafeteria, what he had in his guts should definitely be kept down or else be at risk of causing a scene as he felt like vomiting everything he had out onto the floor.

'Stupid nerves, give me a break,' Gumball thought to himself.

"Gumball, you okay?" Darwin asked. The feline nearly jumped out of his own skin. He had been so enthralled in his own thoughts that he completely forgot that he had been walking with his brother. Bringing his heart rate back down to Earth, he gave a small sigh of relief and pushed an award winning smile onto his face.

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine, dude," Gumball said. He was lying of course, but he still wasn't ready to tell anyone what was going on.

"If you say so. You just seem real tense," Darwin responded. He didn't seem to believe Gumball, so he tried to think of a lie to sway suspicion.

"Yeah, I'm just not too keen about the lunch options today." And there we have it, the award for best consecutive lies goes to Gumball Watterson. Had he not been putting on an act, he would have face palmed and cursed himself. It was taco day today; he himself would not have believed anyone had they said they weren't excited for taco day, and he could tell Darwin was thinking the same thing. "Uh... because I don't know if my stomach is up to Mexican today. Might put a little too much gas in the tank for later." That seemed to do it. Darwin just made a face of mild disgust as he thought about the night that would follow if Gumball had indulged himself today.

"Yeah, maybe stay away from the line... please."

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Just like that, they had made it. The cafeteria was bustling with students getting their food and finding their seats with their friends, and the smells that filled the air were something to behold. But alas, as Darwin walked toward the line insisting that Gumball go find a seat and ensuring that he'd pick out a lunch that best fit his temporary dietary needs, he knew he'd be missing out on today's bounty. That didn't matter much though. With Darwin away, he could run his little reconnaissance without having to worry about his brother putting two and two together.

Performing a quick scan of the room, looking through all the students, he saw Carrie sitting in her usual area at a table by the window, staring at her food looking sad and hungry. It was a piteous sight to see, it almost looked like a painting the way she sat there with true defeat in her eyes.

Gumball found the will to start inching his feet forward, taking his sweet time to scoot his way over to her to join her and see what was up. He had to admit, he probably looked a little goofy the way he was moving, and that was reaffirmed by the looks he was receiving from some of the other students, but with his eyes set on his destination, there could have been a trillion looks being cast his way and he wouldn't have seen them. No way he would have seen them. Not with his heart pounding in his ears blocking out all other worldly noise, and his eyes blurring and distorting everything around her from focusing too hard. Complete with a waterfall of sweat emitting from all areas of his body, he looked like a certified mess.

Carrie on the other hand, felt totally fine. As she sat there, twiddling her food, she kept a hard fixed stare at her table. By now, food just seemed like a decoration for her table. It had no use being around her, but it sure was fun to play with.

She couldn't fully understand why, but the air in the cafeteria had gotten a little thicker in the past few minutes. Without moving her head, she gave a quick eyeball glance around the room and saw Gumball awkwardly approaching her with this half doofy, half horrified look on his face. The look was very funny, and set a small smile on the ghost girl's face.

Everyone in the school could agree that with Gumball around, it was hard to feel any sort of melancholy because of the goofy things he did constantly. Why was he coming over today though? As funny as it was, he seemed distressed. Something must've been bothering him.

Gumball had successfully reached the table and sat down nervously. His nerves were so high that he had forgotten to say anything after he sat down, so he just kind of stared at the girl.

"Uh, hey Gumball." Carrie said, breaking the silence. A small blink showed that he his previous train of thought had been derailed and he very quickly started talking.

"OH! Yeah," Gumball said, chuckling a little. "Hey Carrie, mind if I sit with you? I mean, I guess I am already sitting with you so I'm sorry I didn't ask permission, uh, but do you mind? I mean, of course you can say no and-" Oh god, why was he rambling? He was really screwing this up. Every word that left his mouth was immediately followed by another and none of them really meant anything. He was caught in the loop, he needed someone to stop him.

Carrie smiled softly.

"Yeah, sure. You can sit with me." She said, still twirling her food around her fork. This seemed to immediately put the cat at ease. He took a deep breath and slumped in his seat. "So what brings you to my little corner?" She and Gumball were friends, they had had plenty of bonding experience in the past to qualify as friends in each other's eyes, but it was kind of odd for him to come up to her and sit with her, especially since he didn't have Darwin with him. Or a lunch.

"I just figured I'd, uh, say hi. We don't really hang out much, do we?" The cat's defense was true, they never did talk much, which is the most confusing part about all this. Where did he find time to develop any sort of feelings for her when they hardly spent time together. He was trying his hardest to stay cool, but his heart was still racing.

"I guess not. But where's Darwin? And uh, where's your lunch?" Carrie asked the question with slight concern. If the two boys were inseparable, why was one here without the other?

"Darwin is getting me lunch, he told me to sit down somewhere and said he'd meet up with me." His stomach was growling a little, he was pretty hungry and Darwin sure was taking his sweet time. Or maybe Darwin was rushing and time itself had slowed down to drag this moment out forever.

"Do you want any of my food while you wait? I'm not using it." Carrie said, offering him a better look at her plate. She had been stirring the side of peas this whole time, and hadn't even touched the burrito that was laid on a crisp piece of lettuce right in the middle.

Gumball's mouth salivated just a little as he nodded his head.

"Yeah, I can take it off your hands." Gumball said, sliding the plate his way but not bothering to take a bite yet. He still wanted to calm his stomach before he ingested anything. It was impossible, however, now that this thick, awkward silence had blanketed itself on the situation. Both really didn't have much to say to each other and Gumball had made the mistake of walking into this situation totally unprepared. He should have written some ice breakers at least, just to get things moving. How was he going to gather information this way?

"So," Carrie started. "Is something bothering you? You seem worried about something." He was doing a bad job, apparently, at hiding his emotions. She had read through him like he was a light novel.

He was unequipped to answer that question. He couldn't say no, it was obvious that there was something wrong with him, but there was no way he could just tell the truth either.

"Uh, you know, just this thing I'm looking into that's got me all confused. Nothing you need to worry about." Gumball said, telling a half truth.

"Can I ask what it is?" She persisted. The more Gumball seemed vague about his problem, the more she wanted to know about it. She had literally an eternity to pry at him about it.

"It's just a personal project. I was, uh, doing some research. On things. I got a bit more confused than I was and now that I'm at school I have to wait until I have free time to figure it out some more. Like I said, nothing."

Carrie got a look on her face like she had been thinking about something.

"How about I help you with it?" She suggested. "I could come over after school or on the weekend or something and we can look at it together." The air had caught itself in the boy's throat. How had he gotten himself here? Not only had he confirmed to himself that there was definitely feelings he had, but the girl of his newfound affection was offering to come over to his house. He felt like melting, exploding, running away, and dying all at the same time.

"I mean, uh, yeah. I guess if you wanted to you could. I mean, I don't know how you might be able to help me but I guess two heads are better than one they always say and seeing as you've got a head on your shoulders I'd say that would be perfect, ha ha." He was rambling again. He was cut off, once again thankfully, by Carrie.

"Great. For now, just calm down, okay? We'll get to it." The smile she gave him warmed his heart and calmed his nerves. He sat up a little straighter and gave her a grateful smile. He looked back down at his plate, suddenly feeling his appetite come back, so he picked up the burrito and casually took a bite of it.

There was a clattering sound just a few feet away from him. Gumball turned his head and saw that Darwin had just dropped a salad on the floor that he must have gotten for him.

"Gumball! NOOOOOOOO!" He screamed dramatically, believing fully that that meant tonight was going to be a smelly, suffocating death. Gumball Chuckled a little at the sight of his brother on the floor quickly devising a plan to rid the room of the problems Gumball had made up.

Having confronted the problem, everything felt pretty good now. There was no telling, though, how it was going to go after detention today, when Carrie had suggested to meet up.

The universe would just have to decide that for the boy.

**There we are. A fun little lunch scene with some good, some bad, some ugly. Please please PLEASE review, I love getting feedback and I love hearing any thoughts you guys have for me. Till next time all.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3. Woo. I get this feeling at this point that my efforts are a little superfluous, and that I'm just beating a dead horse with a massive stick. Maybe it's that fanfiction is a little outdated, maybe it's that the ship is a little outdated, maybe it's that I'm a little outdated. At any rate, it just feels like this could have remained unspoken.**

**Enjoy the chapter.**

Sitting lazily in detention, Gumball kept his eyes on the open air. Nothing was there to catch his attention but his own thoughts. It had seemed that today he was going to have the whole period to himself. Mr. Brown was seated across the room from him reading a book, hoping for nothing more than just silence so that they could both go home with no trouble whatsoever.

The principal had known Gumball for a while, and although the boy meant well, it was a mutual understanding that Gumball had a tendency to attract trouble. It wasn't news whenever the school heard hat he was at the heart of any disaster, but that never really made detentions less disappointing.

Gumball had had a dumb little grin plastered on his face the entire time. With only five minutes left, the time grew nearer that he would walk outside and meet up with Carrie who had so graciously agreed to wait up for him after the last bell. The two would then head over either to the library to look into some false subject Gumball had pulled from his keister, or to his own home, to use the computer, get bored, and hopefully go and do something and he would get to avoid having to go through any real studying.

He was really hoping for the latter, because he would simply be able to play it off like it wasn't as important as he had thought and would be able to quickly change subjects to something else. What was there really to do in Elmore, though. Even for him, the kid with the most active imagination and a passion for curing his own boredom, found that his town simply didn't have much to offer, meaning he usually made his own fun.

All the same, though, he usually figured something out. However, this hangout would have to be fun enough that Carrie would want to do something again another time. It would be no fun if this was a one time deal and then everything tried to go back to normal. What to do though? He hadn't, himself, had much experience with girls in the past if any. He hadn't yet been on anything he could actually consider a real date, let alone had a girl in his house to hang out with before.

He needed some serious advice, and fast. He couldn't ask any of his family, because by the time he asked them it will have had been too late. He'd be at the house with Carrie and he'd just have to figure it out.

He eyed Mr. Brown, he was still nose deep in that book peering over his glasses and scanning the pages thoroughly. The time seemed to have been slowed for his too because he would shoot occasional glances at the watch on his wrist before turning his eyes back with a sigh. Would Gumball really stoop to asking his principal, boyfriend of the most horrid creature known to man, miss Lucy "The missing but unwanted link" Simian? Was a man in that type of relationship really one to ask for girl advice in the first place?

With about four minutes to spare, the choice was made. Gumball would humor the man.

"Hey, uh, Mr. Brown?" Even with his soft, inside voice it seemed the utterly annihilate the fragile silence that had befallen them. The principal looked up with a mixed expression of puzzled and bored.

"Yes, Mr. Watterson?" Brown had given Gumball the courtesy of closing his book and setting it down so as to let him now he had his full attention.

The question sat at the bottom of his throat, as though the thought of asking it was so embarrassing that his body had prepared itself with a wall to stop it from happening. With a lot of willpower given to him by the man's awaiting gaze, he pushed it forward and asked anyway.

"Well, um. I kind of have a question for you. Rather, I want advice on something." He ignored the principal's new face of shock at hearing that he was being asked advice by this particular student. "I have plans with a girl soon, and I kind of like her, and I want to try and make sure that there's a second time. You know? I want to make sure that she sees that this isn't a thing where we hang out once and never talk again."

He was fumbling with his words, not a new concept for the cat but definitely an unwelcome one. He was trying is hardest to explain to the principal this newfound feeling of his and wanted to make sure that he had given enough that he could get a proper answer.

At the end of his explanation, he sat patiently while Brown tried his best to decipher what he was being asked, and how to deliver to him an answer he could comprehend.

Three minutes left.

"Well," he began, "If I've learned anything, it's that if you have an interest for the girl, the best you can do is try. There is no real trick to it, there seems to be when you're young but as you grow older you'll realize that the girl you have eyes for really just want you to put in some good old effort." He looked into Gumball's eyes, which returned a look that said that that wasn't what he was looking for. The principal gave a sigh.

"Look, if you want this girl to be around more, just make the effort to make her be around more. That's all I can say to you. As far as being interesting enough for her to want to be around on her own, well, I'd say that you wouldn't really have to try too hard. It would be a miracle if she made it out of the first date unscathed by some unnatural disaster." This earned a slight chuckle from the boy.

Gumball looked down at his twiddling thumbs, taking in everything he had heard.

'All we have to do is try, huh?' Gumball thought to himself. It would never have occurred to him had he not asked someone else, he could only imagine the hair-brained scheme that he'd formulate that would result in some sitcom like catastrophe leading to some heartfelt, lesson learned kind of ending had he tried to tackle this one by himself.

Thankfully he had enough sense to ask someone who had seen the real world and had attained real world knowledge. The gratitude he felt right now was bigger than he could hold had it been translated to weight.

"Alright, cool. Thanks Mr. Brown." Gumball said. Brown nodded back. He looked up at the clock, two minutes left. He gave a small smile.

"Go ahead and get out of here." Brown said warmly. Gumball returned the smile the principal held on his face and got up to leave. A whole two minutes early was imperative to how things could go, and for that, Gumball made sure to thank the man one more time on his way out.

"Watterson," Brown lightly called out before the door had shut behind Gumball. He peaked his head back inside to hear what he had to say. "I'm sure young Miss Fitzgerald will be elated by anything you do for her." He said kindly.

Record scratch. Hold up now. Brown thought Gumball had been talking about Penny this whole time, but truth be told, Gumball had forgotten about Penny as the events of the past few days took over his brain.

The feelings he had for the girl came rushing back and hit him like a rock attached to thirty-two linebackers. How could he have forgotten his feelings for Penny? What the hell was he thinking, just because he had feelings for another girl he was going to forget about her completely?

He mentally face-palmed. He thought all his troubles had been solved when he figured out his true feelings, but now it just seemed that he had opened up a whole new mess. Just like him to be at the heart of it.

He was going to have to decide, obviously the choice should be Penny. He had put in many years of effort into his an Penny's relationship, and even though they weren't yet a thing, he could feel that any year now she would finally return those feelings. She was kind, she was sweet, they had a lot in common, so logically she's the choice and there would be no other option.

But as he walked out of the doors and into the sunlight which was now waning deep into afternoon, turning the sky into a blue which faded ever so slightly into yellow, and saw Carrie who seemed to do nothing but flourish from it whilst she sat looking off into the distance lost in her own thoughts, all aspedct of logic was thrown out of the metaphorical window.

'Or maybe Carrie.' Gumball thought.

**There we go. Chapter 3. I hope you guys are enjoying this, and if not, I'm still going to get it done and to my liking so that I can at least say that I can show I've improved somewhat.**

**Please review, I really would love to read your feedback on this. Thank you, till next time all.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey dudes, here we are again. I'm really happy with the way things are turning out so far with this, and it makes me happy looking back at it's crappy predecessor and seeing that compared to this, it really is just that. I'm glad it isn't the same song and dance, I definitely am taking it in different directions and it'll keep that way :) Happy reading dudes, see you at the bottom.**

* * *

Things between the cat and the specter were kept casual to say the least, and that day had been nothing more than a trial and error of emotions for Gumball. But who the heck knew what Carrie thought of that day.

Pacing his room once more like he seemed to be doing so many times these past few nights, he couldn't get out of his mind that burning question. What was Carrie's stance? Of course he didn't expect her to think anything of the day other than just a hangout, because that's all it was made to be. Still, a little insight would be fantastic.

"Okay, Gumball," the boy said to himself. "Just think. The day was okay, nothing big happened, it was nice. I'm sure she had a great time. Girls are easy like that." Gumball stopped in his tracks.

No they were not. He let out a groan and buried his face in his hands to give himself a nice dark place to think. The moonlight had provided light enough to taunt him as he walked in his infinite little loop, but not so much that his brother couldn't sleep soundly. Gumball's eyes looked over him with green lenses, envious of the relaxation the fish could feel at a time like this when Gumball's whole world was on the verge of collapse.

But his problems weren't Darwin's to handle. They were his own, unfortunately.

He looked over at the window, finally facing the moonlight head on. As daunting as it seemed, it was comforting. With something so big in his life, his burdens somehow felt smaller. He walked over to the window, double checked to make sure Darwin was still sleeping soundly, and opened it swiftly and quietly. He stepped out onto the room and sat in the cool night air.

He never really did this often, but it felt nice to be out there; the city was turned off, the streets were empty, and it was definitely more freeing than the confines of his room which, lately, had become something of a hovel for him. He was becoming a hermit and wasn't digging it.

He took a deep, refreshing breath and felt the coolness hit his lungs, chilling his burning body throughout. With an exhale, he let him mind settle before trying to make more sense.

"How did you feel about the day, Gumball?" He muttered to himself. He thought back to today, nothing special but still a magical experience.

Fresh out of detention he walked over to Carrie and sat down by her to she what she was doing to occupy her time.

"Hey, sorry to make you wait like that." Gumball apologized, but the time she had spent waiting on him had left her unfazed.

"It's no big deal, I didn't have much to do anyway." She said, throwing in a small smile to reassure him. This took a bit of weight off of the boy, but gosh did it almost lift him to his feet. The smile, the unusual warmth in her tone, her calming voice, it all hatched butterflies in his stomach. Those butterflies would stay with him throughout their time together.

"You take the lead then." Carrie said, catching him a little off guard. "Where are we going? You said you had a thing you wanted help with, right?"

"Oh, right," Gumball said with a slight chuckle. "I was thinking we could use my computer at home."

"Sure, take the lead." She said as they both stood up to begin their walk. Gumball had it mapped so that they could take a somewhat longer way to his house than he would normally take considering that the act of getting to his house would be pointless because nothing would actually happen there, seeing as he had fabricated this need for her help.

So a longer way they went, walking and talking down the sidewalk as they got to know each other a little better. He was cracking jokes, some of them made her laugh, others at least earned a chuckle. As confident as he was making himself out to look, he definitely was a mess under his skin, but a happy mess.

"I want to get some water, let's stop at the park." He said eventually. Although he had chosen to take this path, he hadn't taken into account dehydration, or fatigue. Walking into the park and stopping at the fountain, he took a long drink and let himself become cool. He let out a long, content sigh.

"Man, nothing better than a nice, cool drink of water after a bit of a walk, don't you think?" He let out with a smile. He opened his eyes and saw that Carrie's smile had faltered slightly. He raised his eyebrow a little in confusion, trying to think of why it had happened, and then it hit him. His eyes widened a little bit and immediately he had started an apology for flaunting his ability to feel these things in front of her.

"It's okay, Gumball. I know you didn't mean anything by it. It just sucks sometimes, you know? Not being able to do some simple things like taking a drink of water and feeling tired after a long walk." She said in her more familiar depressive tone.

Take a bag of bricks and throw each one individually at Gumball's stupid head, that's what he felt he deserved. He didn't mean to be stupid, it just sort of happened sometimes. His ears lowered a little bit, feeling kind of heavy with guilt.

"Hey, don't sweat it man. I'm used to it by now, let's just get going." Her face had returned to it's smile and he caught the hint to move on from this little blunder. There were bigger things in the world to worry about than a little moment of shame. His smile returned and they talked like nothing had happened.

A few more streets, a few more laughs shared between them, a few more happy memories made for Gumball later and they were finally at his house. The sky had now fully sunk to it's comfortable resting position giving off it's yellow looking color, which couldn't have been more fitting for the golden warmth that Gumball felt inside of him right now.

They walked up the porch and he led her inside.

"Gumball! There you are," he had heard immediately upon entering the door. "Care to explain why you had after school detention?" It was his mother, and she didn't look very happy. He opened his mouth to speak, but he saw her eyes dart passed him and her face softened upon seeing that he had company.

"Oh, who is this?" She asked. Gumball stepped aside so that she could better see his guest.

"Mom, this is Carrie. She's helping me with something for a project. Carrie, this is my mom." He introduced the two. Carrie had said hello, his mom had said it was very nice to meet her, and that she insisted she call her Nicole. She brought Gumball into the kitchen to continue their talk and allowed Carrie to take a seat in the living room.

"A girl, huh? Is she your-" Nicole had gotten this motherly smile on her face that said she was just trying to embarrass her son. "Girlfriend?" It seemed to wonders, because the boy had turned from blue to red in a split second.

"No! She's just a friend! Who... happens to be a girl, but that's beside the point." He replied rather flustered. Nicole chuckled a little, for this had given a clue into his true thoughts on the girl. Boys, especially little ones, were so easy to read and it was wonderful. Her little Gummy-puss was showing interest in another girl. She loved how complex her little man was becoming.

"Okay, sweetie. I'll make you a little deal. Since I didn't count on you having company, I'll put our little talk off until later. Go hang out with your little friend, just know that we will be discussing some things afterwards. Okay?" This seemed reasonable to the boy. He smiled at his mom and gave her a hug. He walked back into the living room and led Carrie upstairs. "Make sure to keep your door open!" Nicole called up after them. The two stopped and looked at each other confused, shrugged, and kept going.

Darwin and Anais were off doing something with dad, which meant that the room would just be for the two to hang out in. It was a good thing he was relatively neat with how he kept his room, because he was not ashamed to let her walk in and scan it.

"So, this is where you sleep." She said, looking at the bunk beds and around at everything else around. "A little plain, though, don't ya think?" She said with a smirk, jabbing at Gumball a little. He laughed in response.

"I think you mean, 'clean'." He said back, dropping his backpack off into his closet. The ghost had chuckled back, still snooping over everything she could see.

"So what's this thing you wanted me to help you with?" She asked looking finally at him. He had prepared for just a question. For once today, he didn't feel caught off guard by her.

"I had a lot of time to think in detention, and I decided that it doesn't really matter. It was stressing me out, but I let it go." He answered, though she seemed to just smirk at him.

"Yeah? Time in detention really let you grow, huh?" She teased.

"Yup, did hard time, now I'm a changed man. You're looking at a new and improved Gumball Watterson." Striking a pose, the ghost started cackling. Coming down from her laughing fit, she settled at the chair in front of the computer, as he had just sat on the ground leaning against his bed.

"I'm starting to think there wasn't a problem in the first place." She said jokingly, though this almost made Gumball soil himself. Was he that easy to figure out? Was it all really that obvious?

"Uh... Why would you think that?" He nervously asked, trying to find his way to recover from the situation.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe you just wanted to spend some alone time with _moi_!" She said, striking a pose similar to his from seconds before. He relaxed, seeing that it was just a joke. Nothing but harmless flirting.

...

Wait. Flirting? Was she flirting with him? His insides caught fire and sent a boiling sensation all throughout his skin. It was casual, but he definitely picked up flirtatious undertones to what she was saying. Oh gosh, no need to panic, this was just a very critical juncture. Maybe it was nothing but joking, but if it was flirting, he'd have to come back with something.

"Yeah, alright, you caught me. My evil plan was foiled again," He managed against all odds to say coolly. "The real reason I brought you here was so I could sell you a time share in a cottage in the east. I only ask for a few minutes." This seemed to get Carrie off his back, for after yet another bit of laughter, the two just sat and talked.

Eventually it had gotten dark, and Carrie had to go home. Gumball and his mom had their little talk in which he was ultimately told to try not to let it happen again. and afterwards they each had a cookie and talked about Carrie a bit. He didn't let her in on too much, just enough to satisfy her questions.

Which takes us to the present. Gumball was still on his roof, now with a smile on his face. His head was clear and his heart was warm. Eyes to the stars, he felt comfortably small and content with his place in his life now. That day had been awesome, and even if Carrie didn't have a totally good time, he had had the time of his life.

He crawled back inside, closed his windows and fell into a comfortable sleep. He had given his best effort and would definitely try to make it happen again.

Carrie had had a similar experience.

At her home in her room, she was awake as she was every other night, but tonight had been the happiest one in a long long time. Gumball had shown her a great day today, and it gave her a feeling of normalcy that she had been looking to achieve at all costs. This boy had brought a joy to her life that she didn't know she was capable of and for that, she was grateful.

She had been watching the same moon as he had, and in that way, they were connected. Unbeknownst to both of them that either had any feelings for the other. For Carrie, it was sort of newfound and scary. It was strangely sudden and seemed to be fortified by today, something she wasn't sure Gumball would understand. The casual way he talked gave off the vibe that he might not see her as much more than just a friend.

Though, she did notice the undertones of casual flirting going on between them. Flirting was normal, though. Right? Whatever it was, it had definitely won her over in a sense, and though it might make things awkward tomorrow, tonight was a safety net for smiling and reveling in this feeling that wasn't dread.

**And just like that, the chapter is done. A nice little fluff, a feel good piece. The power I have is insane. I could have made this really sad. I could have made them hate each other, who knows, maybe I'll kill gumball in the next chapter? I know I won't, but you don't know that. I've done it before, lol. **

**Please please please review, you know I love hearing feedback. Tell me what was wrong, tell me what was good, etc. Till next time all.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello once again my dudes. Not much to say this time around, so hop right into reading :)**

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"Hey, Gumball!"

Two words that sucker punched Gumball to the ground and left him staring up at them through swollen black eyes. It was another day at school and the boy had been minding his own business walking through the halls with his brother, talking about possible weekend plans and had taken notice of gravity starting to loosen its grip on him. He quickly figured out the source; standing right down the hall was Penny Fitzgerald, the object of his affection since forever.

This, of course, was now bittersweet considering what was currently going on in his life. Of course he was happy to see her, she was a good friend of his and a very sweet person. But how could he face her knowing that he was still madly in love with her, but exploring new grounds with someone else? It was an uncomfortable feeling to say the least, but was nothing compared to the feeling he got when she turned and greeted him upon seeing him.

Standing back up, he dusted himself off and gave a friendly, sweaty-handed wave back. That definitely should have been enough, class was going to be beginning soon and any normal person would have taken the wave and walked away.

Unfortunately for Gumball, Penny seemed to really want to talk to him. Pom-poms rustling with each step, she steadily made her way over to him, her smile weighing down on him with unintentional pressure.

"Hey, Gumball!" She started with as friendly a voice as ever. Gumball kept his composure, but still had a doofy little grin on his face. As confused as he was by his emotions, he still managed to find his love for the peanut girl and couldn't help but have his heart warmed. "I have a favor to ask of you, do you think you could meet up with me at lunch so we can talk about it?"

It was a simple request, he saw no reason to deny the gesture. More than that though, it was intriguing; he definitely wanted to hear what this favor was. A ton of thoughts ran through his mind of what it was. Some involved her asking for help with a cheer thing, another involved her asking him to watch as she modeled the new cheer uniforms, some even involved her asking him to help her practice kissing.

The last one set fire to his cheeks and blistered them red.

"Uh, yeah! Sure, I'll find you at lunch!" He said, matching her smile.

"Awesome! See you then, Gumball!" With that, she ran off to class. Gumball had remembered that he had to head there as well, but before he could go, he was stopped by yet another person, and who could have guessed that it would be Carrie of all people.

Honestly, at this point, the universe was using him as its own entertainment. He was completely sure that these events were unfolding in a sequence that resembled that of a sitcom with him as the main character and the butt of every joke.

"Oh, Carrie! What's up?"

Smooth.

"Not much, I was wondering what you were doing over the weekend? I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out at all." The ghoul said. Gumball gave himself a little thought of congratulations at having achieved what he meant to with Carrie; she actually wanted to hang out with him again! So much so that she had approached him!

Though, aside from this little celebration, he noticed a faint gleam in the girl's eyes. She looked almost nervous to be asking such a question.

"I don't think I'm busy, so sure! How about tomorrow?" Gumball proposed tomorrow, Saturday, because he had just made plans with Darwin to go see the new action movie '_Kill Them With Kindness and Fire__' _on Sunday. It was opening day so Saturday was his leisure time.

"Okay, cool. Tomorrow it is then." Her nervousness had faded away with a smile. She floated off saying her goodbyes leaving Gumball standing there.

Both of the girls he had eyes for had just asked him to hang out with him. As nervous as this all made him, was it that bad of a situation? Hanging out with two girls both of which were very pretty, and great in their own ways. Why did he have to decide right now which to choose? Nothing was really making him pick anything. The best move would be to just see where his heart took him when it came time.

But like a turtle in an intersection, he would find that his luck wasn't enough to keep him out from under the tired of time.

Lunch had come around and he was basically skipping all the way to the cafeteria. His spirits were so up that it made his body light enough to float. He burst through the doors, catching a few looks from the people standing near it, and quickly found Penny standing in line to wait for food.

He walked over to her and got in line, which thankfully no one seemed to mind.

"Penny! I made it!" He said, she greeted him warmly, turning to face him head on.

"Gumball, there you are. I'll tell you a little more about my favor when we sit down." Fair enough. The lunch line wasn't for exchanging business propositions, it was for banter. Pleasant banter, which was exchanged by the two over the course of waiting, receiving their food, and walking to a table that was free. They had found a table to themselves so that Penny could give her attention to the boy without interjections from her usual group.

"So what did you wanna ask me?" Gumball said, biting his forkful of macaroni. The question had been on his mind all day and was nagging at him, and finally he was going to learn what it was that she wanted to ask.

"I was wondering if I could get your help organizing a fundraiser for the cheer team. We need new equipment, so we need to raise money somehow, but we don't have any ideas. I figured you might be able to help since you have such an imagination." Flattery was getting this girl everywhere, because that compliment made Gumball fire a yes out of his mouth faster than any bullet had ever left any gun made by any man, or woman, or other.

"Great! Do you think we could meet up tomorrow at my house to talk about it?" And with that, the tires screeched and there he found himself in a predicament.

Where he had thought he didn't have to make a choice so soon, he was now standing face to face with the ugly headed beast named Decision.

On the one hand, he had already made plans with Carrie, and he still wanted to feel things out with her because he felt real chemistry with their last hangout. The excitement he had felt when she asked him to hang out with her again was overwhelming and truly made him feel good. But they didn't have anything set, nothing to actually do tomorrow, no plans made or anything.

On the other hand, Penny, as he thought of so many times already, was the love of his life for so long that he had already made considerable progress in establishing a relationship with her. When she had asked him to even come have lunch with her he nearly exploded with joy. She even had a plan for tomorrow, so finding something to do wouldn't be very hard at all. They'd be brainstorming and coming up with ideas and joking and stuff like that. That sounded really fun.

A million years seemed to pass in Gumball's head in the course of a second. Now was the moment to make his choice.

As much as he felt guilty to say it, for his love for her did feel powerful, something about Penny seemed kind of... _boring._ He had been hell-bent on catching her eye for years, and something with the way that it became routine has grown to be kind of vanilla.

With Carrie, he didn't know what to expect. She was a new person, or at least in a new light for him, and she had contact with paranormal behavior, and she had real faults and problems and didn't seem as perfect to the public eye as Penny did. Penny's perfection had grown kind of stale.

Not to say that he didn't have any feelings for the girl, but given the choice to sit in a room all day with either one of them, he'd say that he would rather be with Carrie, risking trouble, adventure, or even just conflict in any way over talking about a school event for hours with Penny saying she loved every one of his ideas.

As little as he knew about his own mind at this time, he was very clear on the idea that right now, he wanted to explore what was exciting for him rather than what was routine for him.

Which led him to his response.

"Actually Penny, I'm a little busy this weekend." He explained softly. Her smile had faltered a little, showing more of an inquisitive look. "Would we be able to reschedule at all? Maybe to next week at any lunch period?" She thought about it a little, then let her smile return.

"Yeah, okay. That sounds good." She said, which gave Gumball his composure back. He felt relieved that after all he could still be on Penny's good side.

The rest of the school day went by rather uneventfully. Classes rolled on until school was over, and Gumball had caught Carrie at the end of the day, walking with her and Darwin to the bus to head home.

The three had just sat and talked a little bit, passing the time between stops as kids got off to go watch t.v, or play video games, or even do their homework.

Getting home was pretty normal as well, they had arrived, tossed their backpacks into their room and asked their mom for the money to see the movie on Sunday before heading out into the backyard to begin production on a short film they had planned that day at school which probably wouldn't be finished until next weekend.

Dinner came and went in a flurry of conversation and eating, before finally it was time for bed.

Gumball had been laying in his bed, trying to fall asleep. His day tomorrow was going to be one where he needed energy and he was going to try and get as much as possible.

But then a sound had rustled him from his attempts. It was a small popping sound, almost like a fork gently hitting a champagne glass. He checked around his room real fast, not being able to see much because of how dark it was, but still straining to figure out the source of the noise.

_Pop!_

There it was again. It had come from the window. He gently got down off of his bed so that he wouldn't wake up his brother, and went to check what it was that had aroused him from his comfortable nest.

As he peeked out into the night, a small rock had hit the window right in front of his face, imitating the small popping sound.

He pushed the window up and peeked outside, and there was Carrie, hovering in the front yard holding a rock that she was just about to throw.

"Finally! I was running out!" She whispered up at him. As confused as he was, he smiled and responded to her.

"What are you doing here, man?" He asked, warmly but curiously. She had said something back, but he didn't hear it. "What?" She motioned at him to wait just a second before teleporting with a _crack _up to the ledge outside his window.

"I said, I came to see if you wanted to look at the full moon tonight. There's a spot I know that has a great view, and I usually go there alone, but I thought I'd invite you." She said.

He peeked up at the sky and noticed that the moon was in fact full as a small shirt on a fat guy. He probably wouldn't have even known had it not been for Carrie telling him right now.

He looked back at Carrie and saw her face that seemed to be awaiting an answer from the boy. He thought for a second and after a bit, shrugged and agreed to go.

She offered him her hand and a quick nod down to it. Following her implications, he took it, and in a split second they were someone else. She had done this with him a couple of times before and it always left him feeling a little queasy, but it wasn't too bad.

He looked around, taking in the new setting around him. They were on a hill that was peaking out of a forest of trees, and there was nothing except a chair which he assumed had been set there for him. Beyond that, it was just them, a closeup look of the moon in it's most exposed form and a secondary, but no less beautiful view of the city.

They couldn't have been any further than a couple of miles away, but it was amazing what a step back could do to the canvas of city lights and suburban calmness.

"Here, I brought a chair for you to sit in." Carrie said, taking Gumball away from his thoughts. He looked again at the chair which looked kind of lonely bathed in the glow of the night.

He gave her a smile.

"I don't mind sitting in the grass." He said, proceeding to take a seat in the damp grass beneath him. This kind of thing was healthier for him than a chair anyway, it was a nice little reconnect with nature and it would sort of defeat the purpose to sit in a chair in the middle of such a pretty place like this. Carrie returned his smile and floated closer to the ground to sit next to him.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" She asked him rhetorically. Of course it was, not only for the fact that such a night only happened every so often, but also for the fact that these were the types of nights Gumball would stay up for lately where he'd think until his brain hurt and fret over things he didn't have control over, but was now sharing with another being.

Company on a night like this really changed the mood.

A comfortable silence had befell them, both just took in the sight of the thing bigger than either of them.

"I'm glad you came here." Carrie broke the silence. Gumball turned his head towards her, wondering if she'd explain herself a little more. "I usually come here alone because I don't really think anyone else would appreciate this. But I thought you might." Was the light playing tricks? Or did Carrie have a silvery blush to her face as she spoke? Gumball could see that something was up, and for some reason that made him feel good.

He wasn't the sharpest pair of scissors, but even he could tell that Carrie, like him, had something on her mind nagging at her like he had had, which made him feel a little less alone.

"Thanks for bringing me, this is really cool." Was all he could think to say. He wanted to say more, but sometimes less is more. However, with nothing more to say, another silence had blanketed itself around them.

Again, Carrie was the one to break it.

"I'm also glad you didn't cancel our plans." She said matter-of-factly. Before Gumball could speak, Carrie explained herself. "I heard Penny ask you to help her out tomorrow... You really like her, don't you?" Gumball was staring at his toes and she was looking up and away, the mood was a little more serious than he would have hoped it would get, but that was just what he got for hanging with Carrie. He didn't mind it though. He nodded.

"Yeah, she's cool," he started. "But I don't know. Lately, things have been all screwed up. I don't know what to think of her anymore," he said with complete honesty. He hadn't vocalized this to anyone up until now, but saying it out loud felt more relieving than keeping it in his head.

"What do you mean?" Carrie asked, looking him square in the side of the head. He turned to match her gaze, but felt the need to look away. He could feel her look away as well.

"I don't know. Lately my brain has been going crazy, and I've just been thinking about things differently. Penny is cool, but it just doesn't seem like I want only her anymore. You know?" Gumball lamented the the girl. He leaned back, setting his hands behind him to support himself.

"So you think you might want someone else then?" Carrie asked him, setting herself fully on the ground and leaning back as well, setting her hand close to his.

"Yeah, my attention has been on another girl lately." Gumball's throat felt kind of tight, and his breath was growing more ragged as his heart started thumping while he toed the line of confession. He felt a soft, cold but pleasant object touch his hand. He looked down and saw her hand laying gently on his. His throat was now almost completely shut and his heart was now just trying to break out of his rib cage.

"You don't say? Who might that be?" Carrie asked him, not even looking at him, but letting her face bask in the silver moonlight.

"O-oh, w-w-well, you know..." Gumball started. He stopped his sentence when the girl looked back over at him, face flushed with a darker shade of white than it usually was, much deeper than the blush she had before.

"I think I do," she basically whispered to him. The two looked at each other for a little bit, both observing how the other's features were illuminated and taking notice of the thick energy hovering between them.

Then it happened. It had shocked Gumball with how suddenly it had come, but it wasn't unwelcome.

Carrie had leaned in slowly and planted a soft kiss on his cheek, the icy cold of her lips only further agitated the heat in his face. And just like that, as quickly as it happened, she pulled away and turned back to look at the moon. Gumball stared at her, taking her in as she faced away. Deciding it to be best, he turned with her to face back to the city once more.

It all had a different meaning to him all of a sudden. The lights, the sky, the soft damp grass under him at that moment, there was a new appreciation for it all now that he had someone to share it with. He scooted a little closer to the girl and laid his hand fully on top of hers, enjoying the night that she had gifted him. The night that would be a torch in the dark mysteriousness of his self discovery.

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**Alright, and that's all. Leave your comments, tell me what you think and all that. Till next time all.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello, welcome to yet another installment of GNFR, hope you enjoy this chapter.**

The sun was shining especially bright today and the bird's song outside became Gumball's favorite tune. Last night had left him in a euphoric mood and he'd awoken feeling better than ever.

As great as this moment was, however, it was nothing compared to how good the day would become.

Today was one he'd get to spend with Carrie. Maybe it wouldn't be quite as magical as last night, but the experience would still be lovely nonetheless.

It was ten in the morning, and he had no idea when Carrie was due to come over. Hopping out of bed, he felt it best to be prepared for her to be determined visit. Combing his fur and brushing his teeth, he noticed a forever smile etched into the lines around his mouth. Smiling so much lately had left the dimples etched into his face and he couldn't bring himself to ever stop.

These days made the days of yesteryear seem transparent and almost faded with their dark clouds and negative vibes. Looking in the mirror, he took pride in the cat that was looking back at him for the troubles of the past melted away with the warmth he felt today.

Cleaning his tooth brush and putting it back in its holder, he walked downstairs and prepared to wait by the door for a knocking. At the moment, he had the house to himself; Mom and Dad were out running errands, Anais was away competing a nerd-athalon or something, and Darwin was over at Tobias', undoubtedly giving Gumball his space with Carrie.

Nothing more to do than to wait for aforementioned guest.

And in a measly forty five minutes' time, there was a knocking at the door and he flung himself off of the chair to answer it, running shoulder first into it by mistake and causing a loud rattling sound, followed by an even louder 'ow'. Rubbing the sore spot, he opened the door and was met by the smiling face of his crush. Seeing her now was no different than seeing her any other time, for he was still filled with the feeling of purified electricity and freshly hatched butterflies.

Last night had been eye opening. The simple kiss on the cheek she had administered was enough to shift his values and redefine what he wanted out of this point in his life, and the magic had not yet left his skin. Each second of last night had kissed every pore of his body and left it scarred with a tingling sensation that made him want to burst out laughing.

And now that last night was over and his present was occupied by today, he had no idea what they could do to top the mutual feeling of romance that they had shared under the moon.

But much like a hot dog that wanted to be a pickle, it didn't need to be. It would forever stain his memory and he would look back to it fondly with pink lenses and rejoice in it being the start to something beautiful.

"So, are you gonna let me in?" Carrie said, pulling Gumball back to the porch. He had gotten so caught up in his own thoughts that he forgot to say anything to her. He blinked a couple of times looking for the English translation for 'yes' but ultimately let out a stupid chuckle and stepped aside so she could find her own way in.

He closed the door behind her and they went to the couch and sat down, not too close, but not too far.

After a moment of silence, and another, and another, Gumball started catching on to the fact that things were awkward right now. Silent room, silent people, and what now seemed like miles between them, there was no doubt that there was an uncomfortable, unspoken air between them.

"So-" Gumball began.

"I'm sorry about last night." Carrie interjected. This caught Gumball way off guard. "I know you probably thought it was weird, being that I came to your house late at night and took you to a secluded part of the woods and then... you know... said that stuff... and then kissed you. I don't know what happened, I just-"

It was funny, because Gumball was now on the side of the conversation where someone else was stumbling over their words and he was waiting for a point to come to fruition. It was an oddly proud moment for him and he took a second to pat himself on the back before snapping back to listening.

"I didn't want it to effect our friendship, so can we forget about it and just move on?" Carrie had finally stopped, waiting for Gumball to respond. Dramatically, he looked away to gather his thoughts and reassess what she had said to him.

"No." He said finally, he peeked over at the deep blush and flustered look that had rested over her face.

"No?" Carrie parroted. She sounded both taken aback and worried.

"Yeah. No." Gumball repeated himself. He felt himself start to blush as well, he didn't expect a conversation like this to happen today, he thought it was going to run smoothly and that she would just understand where they were without having to question it. "I don't think I could just forget a night like last night."

Carrie looked over at him surprised, awaiting an explanation. Suddenly, however, Gumball felt less in control than he did moments before. Being vulnerable sucked.

"I just mean that last night was so amazing and made me feel happier than I've been feeling lately. And I don't know if you could tell, but half of that confession of yours was really started by my own confession." Shaking, but still standing, Gumball headed out of his corner of the ring to deliver the rest of his thought. "I don't know, man. Maybe you missed the point, but the person I was talking about last night was definitely you."

It was his turn to wait for a response. Both preteens sat in a cautious silence, both looking for words.

"I knew you were talking about me... I just didn't know if you still felt that way or if it was only an in the moment thing." Carry said in just above a whisper. Gumball shook his head, and smiled over at her.

"Nope. Last I checked, my heart rate was at 500 because of you." He said, earning a small, appreciative chuckle. He scanned her face, deep gray and looking down, hiding a faint smile left over from her laugh. Mustering up all of the strength, courage, and antiperspirant deodorant he had left, he leaned in and quickly pecked her cheek, mimicking what she had done last night.

Her faint smile turned into an ear to ear grin for a split second before she looked away to hide her deepening face, as did he. He couldn't believe he had done that, but he did. All the Watterson men before him, dead or alive were smiling upon him for reasons they didn't even know.

Coming down from it all, they both looked back to each other with less severe smiles.

"So, what does this mean?" Carrie asked him. Frankly, Gumball didn't think about that. Up until now, he didn't see himself getting this far. He figured it was just going to be a day to hang out with her and they'd chill and tip-toe around the topic of last night. But now, seeing as he was fully immersed in the deep end of the pool, he would have to come up with something quick.

"It... means that we like each other... I think." He said. Real smooth was he, how quick witted and clever. Everyone of his sentenced was a perfectly orchestrated concerto adored by the masses. "What do you want it to mean?"

He tossed the ball into her court, she would have to pull off the 3-pointer of a life-time to make Gumball feel better about his lack of knowledge in romance.

"I suppose I want it to mean that today is a date instead of a hangout." She said, shooting the cutest smile over at him that she could muster, which was well received by him. He nodded and rested his clammy hand on her soft, spearmint feeling one.

The silence, once awkward, now felt very happy and accepting. Neither preteen had much experience about this sort of thing, both had never felt a liking for another person quite this strongly and neither really knew quite yet what a real 'date' entailed. As much as Gumball really wanted to do something, he had no idea what was supposed to be done. Dinner? Movie? Were those moving too fast? Or is that more 'hangout stuff'?

He was afraid already of messing up this opportunity that everything seemed like the wrong answer. But then, as a soft 'pat' hit the window outside, and Gumball realized that it was the first sign of rain, the day was thankfully, miraculously decided for them.

Staying inside on a rainy day felt perfect for them and took loads of pressure off. It was a very welcome surprise from the universe who had previously been kicking Gumball's teeth in.

"Do you want to go watch funny videos on my computer?" Gumball offered. Carrie nodded and both raced up the stairs, tripping and grabbing one another in a frenzy of play that melted away the previous conversation and turning it into an outlet for the energy that had accumulated. Once upstairs and in his room, of course with the door open, he loaded up his computer and started looking for anything funny.

Both took turns showing each other things that made them laugh on the internet, sharing joy with one another and reaching a feeling of normalcy for the day.

The rain was getting louder and heavier but it didn't bother the pair at all.

But they did quickly run out of videos to watch. Which left them in a very bored state. Gumball sat on the floor criss-cross and staring at the floor drawing circles in the carpet, and Carrie was laying on the bottom bunk staring up at the top bunk.

The defining line between preteen and teen was much more boredom. As the couple sat in their comfortable silence, they couldn't completely hush the boredom that came with their transitioning minds.

"We coooouuuuld... draw?" Gumball said, they had been discussing what they could do to ease the dull moment. Rainy days, as it turned out, weren't all they were cracked up to be by their representations in movies and media.

"No, I'm not very artistic." Carrie said. "We coooouuuld... Watch t.v?"

"T.v isn't good anymore. Nothing but commercials and reruns." Gumball said, to which Carrie shrugged and nodded. "We coooouuuuuuld..." He had nothing. They had presented all of their options and none of them seemed fun enough to actually do. Gumball's thinking was interrupted by a soft 'no' uttered by Carrie. He looked up confused. "No what?"

"Nothing, it was stupid." Carrie said quickly, very much raising Gumball's interest.

"C'mon, what was it?" A bit of thoughtful silence followed as Carrie pondered how to word it.

"Well... no, no, it's stupid. Forget about it." Gumball most definitely was not about to forget about it.

"Tell me, c'mon!" He was open to anything, any suggestion to pass the time.

"Well... okay. But be open minded and don't make fun." She said. He crossed his heart and gave a signal to continue. "Well... I was going to say we could... I don't know... kiss? Or something? That's how people pass time on t.v and I was just thinking if there's nothing to do we could try it or... something." Carrie said nervously.

Gumball sat straight up, face inflamed and heart racing. He had seen people kiss on t.v too, he had kissed once or twice before, but never like they do on t.v where they 'make out'. He readjusted his collar and allowed his mind to run wild envisioning it. "A-A-Are you sure? I mean, could we even? Should we even? Is it legal?"

He felt very antsy. The question was so disarming that he felt very vulnerable and defenseless against it.

"I knew it was stupid, I shouldn't have said anything. We'll figure something else out." Carrie now felt rather embarrassed. Maybe it was too stupid to bring up in the first place.

"No!" Gumball said with a voice crack. He quickly fixed it. "No. Uh, I was just put off by it and um... uh... I'd like to... you know... try it out, but what if something goes wrong?"

"Like what?"

"We explode or something. I don't know."

Carrie looked into his eyes with a questioning look, but quickly burst out laughing. At first he was upset, but the more he thought about it, the funnier it became and soon he himself was cracking up. His stupid thought had single handedly saved the moment yet again.

Calming down a little bit, Carrie looked back over at him.

"It was just a thought, we don't have to." She said. Gumball thought about it, it was too tempting of an offer to turn down. That's what people did when they were dating anyway, right? They kissed. And even if it didn't work out for them, they could always just not do it. Either way, there was only one way to find out.

"Sure, let's try it." He said, earning a look of surprise from the girl.

"Okay." She said.

"Okay."

They both awkwardly sat and stared at the other.

"...You first." She said. Gumball was dumbfounded.

"Me?! Why not you? You suggested it!" He said defensively.

"I came up with it, that was my half. You do the other half." She said. They shared a look, and ultimately, Gumball got up and walked over. Carrie sat up to face him.

"Alright, here I am." He said, not at all knowing what to do.

"Yeah... there you are..." She had just as much experience with this stuff as he had. They were both in the tree house when the girls wanted to practice kissing with boys, but didn't find one to practice with. Here she was now with a boy and she was at a loss.

"I'm going to kiss you now..." He said. She nodded, and moved closer.

"I'm ready." She said. Gumball gulped, and then very slowly started moving in, inching his face closer to hers at a snail's pace. Millennia had passed in the time it took to get anywhere near her lips. She closed her eyes, he closed his, both waiting for the soft brush of lips to come.

As ready as they thought they were, they were very shocked at the feeling of their lips bumping together with the amount of force a butterfly gave out when it landed on cotton.

But the one little bump sparked lightning, sending through them this energy that felt like an overcharged battery. It wouldn't even be classified as a real kiss, but the way it felt, neither would deny it was. However, with the opening and closing of the door downstairs signaling the return of his parents, he threw himself backwards and onto the floor in an attempt to act casual as if nothing had happened.

They both looked at each other with a newfound look, as today had been more revealing for the both of them than even last night had been. Both full of energy and excitement, leaving them breathless and shaky, it was the first hint that growing up was going to be awkward and confusing, but for now, they stayed transfixed on the present while they still had yet to transition to all of that mess.

Letting what had just happened slip into the background of their minds, they smiled and hopped back on the computer to look for more funny videos to watch, for the rainy day wasn't about to give them anything better to do.

**And that's all. Thanks for being patient and whatnot, I went on a small trip that left me away from my keyboard and now I'm back, but not totally present. The next chapter will be out sometime.**

**I tried going for more of a curious exploration of their boundaries than I was trying to go for something hot and heavy. I remember doing the same thing as a kid, testing those boundaries to see where my comforts lay.**

**Let me know what you guys liked, what you didn't like, etc, et cetera et cetera. Till next time all.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys, back again with another chapter. I was thinking lately that I apologize for late updates and stuff like that, but if you're a new reader, you wouldn't even be able to tell the difference. Whacky, right? Once this story is done, there'll be a ton of chapters where I apologize for late uploads, but it'll already be done by then. Anyway, that's all. Get reading.**

Saturday for Gumball felt like a million years ago now, it was crazy. Nothing else exciting happened that day, his parents came home, made sure their presence was known, and they continued watching internet videos until it started getting dark, by which time Carrie popped on home and left Gumball to think about her and that kiss straight through till midnight and beyond. How he woke up Sunday was beyond him, mostly because he didn't even remember falling asleep. Nevertheless, he was awake and he and his brother went and saw that movie which was fantastic to say the least, but all he wanted to talk about the whole time was what happened on his stay at home date. However, he was nervous to. Kissing a girl alone in his house seemed like such a taboo idea and he didn't know how to go about spilling the beans without spilling too much sauce as well.

Ultimately though, Sunday flew by just as quickly as the second half of his Saturday. And now it was Monday, which seemed fine and dandy since nothing really happens on Mondays, but today was also a day he had told Penny that he was available to work on her project with her. His guts writhed at the idea a little bit, not that he was upset to be helping her, his nerves just made him want to pack an emergency pair of pants. That kiss with Carrie told him all he needed to know about where they stood and he would have to respectfully display that to the peanut girl without just straight up telling her to back off now that he was off the menu. Through his nerves, he was excited that for once in the passed while, he finally had flat footing in his own life and knew exactly where he was in his own mind. It didn't feel like much could surprise him anymore.

That is until lunch came. Picture it, a whole school shuffling somewhat noisily into the cafeteria to have a well deserved meal break, hundreds of students conversing with one another about their weekend, talking jovially, or standing off somewhere, too shy to partake in the talks but hopeful someone will engage them. The aromas drifting around, the different foods and the student body. Take this image, and subtract two people, move them to a quiet, isolated corner of the library wherein they are sitting elbow to elbow and working hard on their project. This was where Gumball was. He willingly skipped lunch to go with Penny to work on her project with her. As gentlemanly as he wanted to appear, he was starving! He could almost make out the lingering smell of baked cheddar beans and rice which was simply driving him insane.

"Gumball?" Penny inquired softly. How could she have possibly known that her sweet little voice would cause him whiplash as he reentered the atmosphere and a million miles an hour?

"Oh, yeah, I think it's a great idea! Let's do that!" He said with one too many voice cracks. She was obviously confused.

"But I haven't said anything," she said. She gave him a sort of pitied look. "I really appreciate you being here, but you don't have to help me if you don't want to. I know this can be pretty boring, and I know it may not mean so much to you, but it means a whole lot to me. I can figure things out from here if you want to go."

Upon his first instinct, he was really excited that he was getting an out! He could run and eat, and possibly finish up lunch with Carrie! It was so nice of Penny to take on everything herself! But as he studied her face and how it was drooping more and more out of sadness, he realized his first instinct was stupid. Of course she didn't mean it, she really needed his help and he's totally blowing her off by actively not trying. He shook his head to try and snap his brain back into place.

"No, no. Sorry Penny, I just spaced off there for a second, that's all. I really do want to help." He said, giving her a small smile to reassure her. Her face perked up immediately.

"Oh thank you, Gumball, I really do appreciate you!" She exclaimed, grabbing his hands and smiling her biggest smile. The second her hands touched his, heat shot all through the cat and his face flushed with the brightest red color anyone's ever seen. Sweat started emitting from all over and his chest started having palpitations. The excitement that now occupied his body was overwhelming and he felt like he was going to explode like a firecracker, or, more accurately, like an atom bomb. His brain went foggy and he could feel his face go dumb, spreading into the biggest, stupidest smile. Everything snapped back to present though when Penny let go of his hands and giggled.

"Gumball, you're drooling." She said, causing him to come to and immediately wipe his face with the dexterity of a newborn child. They both shared in a good laugh before turning their heads back to their table and looking at the many notes spread out before them. Some were just scribbles, some were little doodles, most were still blank. They had been sitting here for a good chunk of lunch trying to come up with ways to raise money for the cheer team so they can get new equipment and uniforms and stuff like that.

"Wow, we really don't have a whole lot to work from, huh?" Penny said with a small smile to Gumball. He picked up a nearby paper with a smile.

"I don't know, this one seemed pretty good." He said jokingly showing her the page which had 'Bank Robbery' written on it. She laughed, he had always found her laugh to be really adorable and it usually always melted him. He was holding himself together pretty well now though, no melting happening here, just simply a little runny. He picked his pencil up to try and begin brainstorming, simply resting the graphite tip onto the paper to try and spark any flow of ideas. In the middle of his flow, though, he was struck in the side of the head. Not hard, very lightly, almost playfully. He looked over to see Penny looking around exaggeratedly as if to deter suspicion, and on the ground next to him he saw a crumpled up paper ball. He smiled, narrowing his eyes at her to play along.

"Hey now," he said. "Who could have struck me with this?" He asked the girl. She chuckled and shrugged.

"Oh I don't know, stranger. I'm just an innocent bystander!" She returned. Holding back a laugh, Gumball continued. He unfolded it and began writing.

"Well now, I don't know if I believe you, for this paper-" he said, holding up the note he had just written on the paper, "Has your name all over it!" Penny couldn't hold back her laugh, gumball had just written her name very big across the paper and that was enough to send her to tears snorting and chuckling. It very abruptly stopped though when a piece of paper, identical to the one she threw at him, struck her in the face. She looked up to see gumball had prepared a whole bunch of the crumpled projectiles as if he was preparing for a war. Thinking fast, she reached out and started grabbing at his pile and they both started throwing the papers back and forth at each other. In a blur of shots fired and laughter, a mess had quickly been made around them, but their laughter was still strong. They had each other nearly falling out of their seats! Tears streaming down both of their faces. Coming down a little from it, Penny let out a sigh.

"I needed that. This whole fundraiser thing has been so stressful, I haven't laughed like that in a while." She said. Gumball didn't have much to say to that, so he just smiled back at her. With another sigh, she pulled an unexpected maneuver and leaned her head on his shoulder, a small affectionate gesture that could be construed as friendly, but had Gumball back in his nervous wreck mode. The emotions he was feeling throughout this whole thing could not be good for his body, and she was just sending him on round trips through them all, slowly just breaking him.

Oddly enough though, once he looked through the haze of nerves and panic, it was nice. Penny was really fun, and exciting, and the amount of things she made him feel was all so overwhelming, but riveting! No wonder he had feelings for her! She really did just have a perfect grasp around his heart.

But he quickly realized that that wasn't good... contextually at least. Yes of course young love is a wonder and blah blah blah, but he had just found some leeway in the confusion by settling on his feelings for Carrie! The second he drops his guard and denounces his feelings for Penny, she reminds him all over again why he fell in love with her. Of course that was through no fault of her own, but gosh dang it, why did girls have to be so confusing?!

"You're a great guy, Gumball." Penny said sweetly, bringing his attention back to her. It sounded like there was more for her to say, and if there was, she had the boy hanging on to her every last word.

"Well... thank you." He said, hoping to encourage her to go on, but realistically that was probably all she really had to say about it. He looked down at her head still resting on his very stiff shoulder. She was a great girl. As much as he wanted to blame her for it, he knew she couldn't help but be the best person she could be. He wanted to make a move and put his arm around her, but more than that, he waned to keep going with what he had going on with Carrie. He wanted to beat his own face in, just to see if it would help his tiny brain make up his mind.

"If you're not doing anything this weekend, we could totally do something... that is, if you want to. It doesn't have to be a date, it could just be a hangout." Penny unexpectedly said. All the thoughts disappeared from his mind and he was just left with the one question. Thinking about it logically, there was no harm in hanging out with Penny on the weekend, especially since he and Carrie weren't 'official', they were still testing their own waters. And even so, Penny said so herself that it didn't need to be a date, just a gathering of two friends. That was good enough for Gumball to give an enthusiastic yes, and just like that, he was back at square one. Whatever step he made in the right direction was negated by these two steps back he just took. He would definitely scorn himself for it, but in the end, one shouldn't settle for one's happiness. One should work to make sure they're content. This wasn't going to be easy, but in the end, all he wanted was his happiness and he was willing to take all the steps backwards to get there.

That being said, the euphoria of the moment made the rest of lunch fly by and so did the rest of the school day. It was hard to stay in the moment during class when he was much too busy daydreaming. Thoughts swarmed all around his head about everything, the girls who now occupied his life, the rush of feelings he'd been getting lately, as much as he hated it his life had been much more interesting lately. Who knew a little drama could spice up he mundane habits of daily life? On the bus ride home, he decided to tell Darwin that they had stuff to discuss when they got him and as soon as they had privacy, he told him everything that had been going on, from the couple of kisses with Carrie to the lunch date with Penny. Everything.

"You kissed right here in the room?" Darwin said a little loudly, Gumball immediately shushed him.

"Dude, mom will flip if she hears that, c'mon!" He said scornfully.

"Sorry, sorry, That's just... I thought only t.v people and adults did that kind of stuff! And you did it right here where we sleep!" Darwin said, a little disgusted, but a little proud of his brother.

"I know, I know. It was just a heat of the moment thing." The cat responded. Darwin nodded understandingly. A small silence befell them.

"So," Darwin said to try and break that silence, "What are you gonna do then? Like, who are you gonna pick to be with?"

That was the issue, Gumball was no closer to figuring that out than he was before. He shook his head and fell back on his bed exasperatedly.

"I don't know, Darwin. I'm so confused. They're both so great! And I know I like them both! They just make it so hard to decide!" Gumball slapped his hands to his face. From his fish bowl, Darwin petted his brother's knee sympathetically. Outside, the sun was finishing setting and the dramatic orange glow that filled the room was fading into regular darkness.

Then, all of a sudden.

*Tap*

Once again, like a handful of nights prior, there was a small tap at the window. Followed by another one. The boys looked at each other and back at the window, then walked to it. Peeking out, they saw Carrie floating on the lawn, holding a slightly bigger rock in hand in case they hadn't heard the first two. Gumball waved and was met by a breathtaking smile from the girl who popped up onto the ledge outside the window, which the boys had now opened.

"Hey Darwin!" Carrie said to the fish, who smiled back to her. She then looked back to Gumball, it was almost unnoticeable, but the way she looked at Gumball was definitely more affectionate than the way she looked at Darwin, just a small detail that made Gumball feel warm.

"What are you doing here, Carrie?" Gumball asked, he was super happy to see her, just curious about her intentions.

"I was in the neighborhood, and I thought I'd stop by and ask if you wanted to go out with me and explore the night a little." Carrie said, feigning a mysterious tone to mask the fact that she was asking Gumball on a quick date. Gumball was onto her at this point. He gave a quick nod and looked at his brother to say something but he was silenced by Darwin holding up his fin.

"If Mrs. Mom asks, you went to bed early and you'll see her in the morning!" Darwin said.

"Thanks buddy, I can always count on you." Gumball said hugging him. He then turned to step out of the window and grabbed Carrie's hand. As soon as he did, they were gone, teleported away. Darwin closed the window, making sure not to lock it, and went downstairs to watch t'v and to make sure their mother was none the wiser about anything.

Meanwhile, Gumball and Carrie had appeared in an odd little location. Not odd in any specific way, it was just outside her house. He looked up at the manor which was silhouetted in the moonlight, wondering why they'd be there at this time of night. She floated towards the door.

"You're welcome to come in!" She said with no further explanation. He opened his mouth to protest, but closed it and decided to just follow her inside. He had been to her house before, once or twice for favors here and there, but never to just hang out, especially not at night. He was lead through the house up to her room, and as they walked in, Carrie immediately went to rest on her bed which still looked like it had never housed a body. But this time, it had a semi large stuffed animal sitting on it. She looked at him and sweeped her arm around as if to say 'make yourself at home'. He was still very confused, but walked in and sat down anyway. "so yeah, we'll just be chilling here if that's cool." She said with a smirk. Gumball was blown away by her nonchalant attitude.

"Yeah, I was meaning to ask. What are we doing here?" He asked, trying not to make it sound negative, he was genuinely curious. Carrie's smirk sort of fell to embarrassment, but she tried her best to hold her confidence.

"Well," she started. "Lately, I don't know, my parents were recently exercised and now I'm kinda by myself and stuff, and I don't know. I've been getting kinda lonely and well, you and I have been hanging out a lot and I don't know, I just thought maybe you'd, umm..." Gumball could see where she was going with this.

"Stay the night?" He finished for her. His breath almost caught in his throat. If she said yes he didn't know how he was going to react! Of course it was an exciting thought, he'd be the first boy in his grade to spend the night at a girl's house! On the other hand, there was lots of factors to take into account. His mom, school in the morning, pajamas, etc. etc. It was risky to no end, but maybe there was a slight chance spending the night wasn't an option and he wouldn't have to think about it.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking." Carrie said, now showering her nerves a little more.

There went any security Gumball had. He super wanted to immediately say okay and spend the night with this girl he had feelings for and awkwardly lay in bed, being kept awake by the excitement of it all! But those minor problems he thought of before kept him from immediately agreeing.

"And.. you know... just in case you felt like it, I've been figuring out how to possess stuffed animals so you could maybe hold me a little... if you wanted to, you really don't have to." Carrie stammered. Unknowingly, she had brought up the proposition of a lifetime which he could not say no to. He could deal with a little mom rage, and he can always just go to school wearing what he had on which is what he usually did anyway, so there was no other option but to say yeah.

Besides, a little teenage rebellion never hurt anyone. His life was just becoming a little more amazing every night as he inched his way through his adolescence.

"Sure!" He said very eagerly. This caught Carrie by surprise, whose face suddenly fell to smug contentment.

"Oh yeah? Excited, are we?" She asked. Gumball laughed and nodded. Though they were both excited, the awkwardness of being so young and inexperienced with this kind of stuff still lingered, so she joined him in laughing. All they could do lately _was_ laugh, the joy they brought each other was so wonderful and so pure that there was no other way to express it, and later in the night when Gumball felt tired, Carrie climbed into her stuffed animal while Gumball climbed under the covers and he held her while he slept. This was one of the first nights Carrie didn't feel alone, a memory she'd cherish forever no matter what happened, cuddling in a bed with the boy she liked while he peacefully slept.

As for Gumball, he was still torn. Two absolutely great times spent with the two girls who had their hands evenly around his heart and mind, and though that thought was still stressful, and though he was still stuck for a decision, right now he was in a great spot, and the warmth radiating from Carries fuzzy little vessel kept him even keeled for the time being and sleeping was easy this time around.

**So that's that. Gosh dang I really do such with updating, lol. Let me know what you thought, any criticisms or just thoughts or suggestions in general. Thanks for reading. Till next time, all!**


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